Kidnaps feared in move to free bin Laden’s widows

Pakistan is increasingly desperate to repatriate Osama bin Laden’s three widows amid fears that al-Qaeda and its allies are preparing an operation to free them from its custody.

The Interior Ministry warned last month that an Islamist group might kidnap a government official and demand the release of bin Laden’s family as ransom, The Times has learnt.

Pakistan has informally asked Saudi Arabia, the native country of bin Laden’s two older wives, and Yemen, the family home of his third, to take the women back. A government commission investigating the US raid in May that killed bin Laden, has lifted travel restrictions on his family.

Pakistan’s intelligence agency took custody of the three widows and eight children after the raid in Abbottabad. However, officials say…